Nah - the Great Depression was. Why do you think it's called "Great"? May be getting a "Greater" one though.
LEH had 60B in dubious mort assets and nobody jumped at the opportunity? In a week AIG would have gone debit.
Bush has been amazing!! To manage an economy with $100 oil, 100 year old finanical firms failing, housing bubble popping sharply. Yet , unemployment is about the same as during the Clinton years. GDP still growing, exports growing, interest rates low, long bonds bid up. No right minded economist would have predicted a functioning economy under these conditions. You ought to pray you have Bush in the Whitehouse!
Wonder if Mr. Cayne and Mr. Lewis feel a bit better. They owned nothing (less even than that really) and got 10 bucks a share for it. Lesson is be awfulist, so you're first for the handout, before people start minding.
Something big has just transpired. Aig was just taken down on the mat. They were pressed so far, so fast, that they gladly accepted the sword handed to them to take their own life. In the overall scheme of things, it may well be that as part and parcel, of achieving the ends of ensconcing AIG, that LEH was 'collateral damage'. Do you think that MER, AIG, or possibly others, would be so quick and 'willing' to reach and grasp for 'salvation', as they did, with their 'dying breath', if not for the ground having been prepped first, by the likes of LEH, etc, as opening acts. Just as someone else above posted, they are convinced, (due to the prior market action, (there's that price action again!)), that the market will go down 300-600, just cuz it happened before. They, just like AIG, was and are behaviorly 'trained'. The deed is done, now the markets move away from 'the scene of the crime' as quickly as possible, and no doubt happy to do so. That's how I see it. The bright side, is that lows and selloffs will likely be shallower, so that when they do occur, buying into them may produce LESS RISK than we have just experienced, in case one's timing isn't spot-on, along with a greater likelyhood that the market will now have a 'natural lift', as opposed to so much selling pressure. On a side note, I hope Peter Schiff trimmed some sail into that glorious, heaven-sent, and much needed relief he sought. If he did not, and is still holding out for more of the same, he may now be sorely disappointed. Opportunities do not always repeat.